Council uncertain on taxes, not pre-K
As friction over Mayor Kenney's sugary drinks tax emerged in City Council on Thursday, momentum still seemed to be moving in one direction - toward funding an expansion of prekindergarten.
As friction over Mayor Kenney's sugary drinks tax emerged in City Council on Thursday, momentum still seemed to be moving in one direction - toward funding an expansion of prekindergarten.
An alternative revenue stream was proposed. Members opposed to Kenney's tax said that option, a beverage container tax, was one they could stomach.
And Council President Darrell L. Clarke vowed that the body would reach consensus - while introducing his own competing plan for how pre-K should be implemented.
"We'll get there, bottom line," Clarke said. "We'll make a decision, and we'll make it soon. The clock is ticking."
Kenney's administration, which has asked Council to pass a three-cent-per-ounce tax on sugary beverages, quickly said the options emerging in Council did not reap enough revenue or provide enough pre-K seats.
"We can keep talking," Kenney said. "But in the end, it's got to be the sugar-sweetened beverage at that number, or we can't pay what we need to pay for."
The container tax, proposed by Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown, would add a 15-cent tax to beverages of 7 ounces or larger, including soda, water, teas, ready-to-drink coffee, juices, and energy drinks. Alcohol, milk, and baby formula would be exempt.
Reynolds Brown's office said the tax, which is three times higher than a container tax instituted in Baltimore, would raise about $64 million annually. Kenney's administration has said his plan will raise $95 million a year.
Kenney spokeswoman Lauren Hitt on Thursday called a container tax "incredibly regressive." She said consumers can avoid buying sugary drinks but not "essentials that would be taxed by a container tax."
Still, the container tax drew support Thursday.
Republican Councilmen Al Taubenberger and Brian J. O'Neill, both opposed to the soda tax, said they would consider a container tax. O'Neill said he would likely vote for it at a lower 5-cent rate.
"It's more broad-based," O'Neill said. "And it's more of a nickel on a whole lot of things rather than a bazooka aimed right to one industry and one product."
Councilwoman Maria Quinones-Sanchez, another opponent of the soda tax, said she would support a container tax at the full 15 cents.
Other Council members seemed aligned with Kenney's plan. Bobby Henon made the rare move of pushing back on Reynolds Brown's plan on the Council floor just moments after it was introduced.
"Today the introduction of a container-tax proposal made the myth of a grocery tax a reality," Henon said, using the shorthand embraced by those opposing Kenney's tax. "The container tax touches nearly every drink on your grocery store shelves."
Clarke, after Council wrapped up for the day, said the container tax "makes sense." What doesn't add up, Clarke said, is Kenney's plan for rolling out pre-K.
Instead of the $27 million Kenney requested to launch pre-K in 2017, Clarke introduced legislation to put $19 million directly into the School District to pay for 2,000 seats. He'd ramp that up to 4,000 seats by 2021. Kenney wanted to fund 6,500 seats in the next three years.
Another change is that Clarke's plan puts the district in charge, whereas Kenney wanted to create an intermediary to administer the program.
"The district already works with providers they deem to be qualified, and parents get to choose where they want to send their child," Clarke's spokeswoman, Jane Roh, said. "The district has the process already, and if they need to expand, we've given them the support to expand."
The district provides 9,000 of the 14,000 quality pre-K seats in the city, either via district classrooms or closely monitored subcontracts to qualified community providers. "Quality" is defined by a rating system administered by the state based on credentials of teachers, curriculum, and the classroom amenities and space.
District spokesman Fernando Gallard said in September 2016 that the most the district could support is 500 3- and 4-year-olds.
"There is nothing that excites us more than high-quality and expanded pre-K, and it remains a top priority for the School District as we invest in the future," Gallard said. "For the Philadelphia School District, the issue of pre-K remains a matter of high-quality pre-K seats and our capacity to add so many seats this close to the start of the 2016 school year."
Hitt, Kenney's spokeswoman, said the district does not have the capacity to take on 4,000 children in five years. She said Clarke's plan would exclude small neighborhood providers.
"At the end of the day, the mayor's plan provides 2,500 more seats in half the time," Hitt said.
215-854-2730 @TriciaNadolny
Staff writer Claudia Vargas contributed to this article.
